President Barack Obama meets children at Mount Pleasant Primary School in Newport, Wales. President Barack Obama visited the school with Prime Minister David Cameron, before attending a two-day NATO summit at Celtic Manor Resort in Newport

Hundreds of wellwishers greeted American President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron as they arrived at a primary school in Newport this morning. Mr Obama’s car was adorned with an American and Welsh flag, and he greeted the smiling youngsters of Mount Pleasant Primary School in Welsh saying “bore da” – “good morning” – and then listened to a welcome message, thanking him for being the first serving US president to visit Wales. When a smiling Mr Obama walked into a Year 6 class speaking Welsh, the pupils’ nervous chatter turned to delighted smiles.

Some onlookers had brought ladders while others stood on walls or even on the back of bikes to try to get the best view. Local resident Sally Pyrah-Barnes, 47, said the day felt like a “once-in-a-lifetime” experience. “It’s good Barack Obama took time out from the summit to acknowledge the local city and the local kids,” she said. Among the crowds gathered outside was college student Jay Singh, 16. He said: “It’s pretty surreal, Barack Obama being in Rogerstone. It’s great that he’s come here and shows Newport has plenty to offer and it’s not just about Cardiff. Mrs Green added: “We both like Obama. He seems to have his finger on the pulse.”

President Barack Obama speaks with Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron during the NATO summit at the Celtic Manor resort, near Newport, in Wales

President Barack Obama, is seated at a table with, from left to right: France’s President Francois Hollande; Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko; British Prime Minister David Cameron; German Chancellor Angela Merkel; and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi as they meet about Ukraine

Secretary of State John Kerry passes a document to President Barack Obama as British Prime Minister David Cameron, speaks at a meeting of NATO leaders regarding Afghanistan

President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron bow their heads for a moment of silence for service members killed in Afghanistan

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen speaks with President Barack Obama as they arrive for a group photo

President Barack Obama stands with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and British Prime Minister David Cameron as he arrives for a NATO summit

WASHINGTON (AP) — Imagine. The argument over President Barack Obama’s legal authority to defer deportations begins 42 years ago with a bit of hashish, a dogged lawyer and, yes, John Lennon and Yoko Ono. President Richard Nixon was seeking re-election, “American Pie” was leading the pop charts and Lennon was in New York facing deportation from a Nixon administration eager to disrupt the famous ex-Beatle’s planned concert tour and voter registration drive. The case hinged on Lennon’s 1968 conviction for possession of “cannabis resin” in London. Lennon was eager to at least delay his deportation so Ono could fight for custody of her 9-year-old daughter by a previous husband. Lennon and Ono approached Leon Wildes, a lawyer young enough that he shouldn’t have had to ask a colleague, “Tell me, who is John Lennon?” He had grown up in a small town in Pennsylvania coal country, and “I was not into that kind of music,” he says.

But he knew his immigration law. In time, the effort to extend Lennon’s stay in the United States would become an integral part of the legal foundation the Obama administration relied on in 2012 to set up a program that has deferred the deportation of more than 580,000 immigrants who entered the country illegally as children. “All I can say is, John Lennon is smiling in his grave,” Wildes said in an interview. “He helped accomplish that.”…..

…Until the Lennon case, the Immigration and Naturalization Service had not acknowledged it used its own discretion in deciding whom to deport. But through the Freedom of Information Act, Wildes discovered 1,843 instances in which the INS had invoked such prosecutorial discretion as part of a secret program for “non-priority” cases. Once the program was revealed, the INS had no choice but to concede its existence and issued official guidance on how it would be applied.

“The remarkable work of Leon Wildes really led to the old agency of INS making its policy about prosecutorial discretion and non-priority status public for the first time,” said Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, a law professor at The Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law who has written extensively about executive powers in immigration law. Immigration lawyers and many legal scholars like Wadhia argue Obama draws his authority to act from a broad range of sources, from the Constitution to immigration laws to government regulations… For Wildes, now 81 years old and still at work on immigration cases, the years spent with John & Yoko were a defining time. (The “hold” music on his office phone plays Lennon’s “Imagine.”)…continued

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ Totally with CEB, our beautiful Dudette.}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} Wish granny could be there to prepare and serve you a lovely cup of your favorite tea on a lovely tray. Love you my Dudette. You get some rest, please. HZ

This is my favorite picture of Pres Obama. It was taken while he ran for Senator or was a Senator. I remember seeing it in Flickr. The faith, love and gentle, powerful strength of all of those beautiful men move me deeply.

My 2 found kittens are 12 weeks old- . They both weigh just over 2 pds now and it turns out they are Siamese Tabby mix. They are fast changing colors and developing the Tabby stripes….they are sooooo cute.

I have a Siamese tabby mix and she is such a sweetie. I adopted her and a chocolate tabby (he is dark brown, brown, and tan with white chest and feet). I later adopted their Siamese sibling seven months later. This summer I caught and spayed the momma cat and two of her newest kittens, I still need to catch the other two and get them fixed. If they are over 2lbs they can get neutered. I waited for mine to be older and they took longer to recover. It seems they recover faster when they are younger. I now have one older cat and three kittens….they are so cute but have a lot of energy….but lots of fun and love.

my older adult female is a calico tabby too! She has some orange and black in her coat. My old lady is 16yrs old and they give her much respect….most of the time. She did not care for the two new ones for four months of hissing and growling…now she tolerates them and they get out of her way.

Trade- Budget and Current-Account-Deficits.
I am not accountant. My lay-woman understanding is that US is doing well with our trading partners and our export and deficit are doing well compared to what was originally estimated.

“According to John Sides, “Democratic candidates are currently over performing how past history suggests they should be doing in a number of races.” Wang (who relies solely on polls) has the probability of Democrats maintaining control of the Senate at 90% today and 85% on election day.

So hold on to your hats folks, we’ve got two months to go and the fat lady ain’t sung yet 😉 ”

“This is the context in which President Obama has sent envoys to the region to develop a plan. To see if a plan can be concocted that meets the above criteria, the president, more than anything, needs time. And that’s the best way to understand the bellicose statements from Vice-President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry. In saying that we will not tolerate these beheadings and will chase the murderers to the “Gates of Hell,” Biden and Kerry are assuaging the bloodlust aroused by these killings and keeping the Democrats from creating distance from the administration in their impatience for decisive action. The administration will do something, but they aren’t ready to do anything, yet. Unlike the last administration, this administration strives to understand the complicated world as it is and not make commitments based on delusions that have no chance of success”.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked an Ohio law that scales back early voting, ordering the state’s elections chief to set additional voting times just ahead of the fall election.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Peter Economus comes in a lawsuit filed by civil rights groups, several predominantly black churches and others challenging two early voting measures in the perennial presidential battleground state.

One is a directive from Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted that established uniform early voting times and restricted weekend and evening hours. Another is a GOP-backed law that eliminates golden week, when people could both register to vote and cast ballots. Without those days, early voting would typically start 28 or 29 days before Election Day instead of the prior 35-day window.

THE EXTREMIST BRAIN DEAD TEA PARTY ENTHUSIASTS CAN HATE HOLDER ALL THEY WANT TO…HE’LL CRUSH THEM! WE HAVE ALOT OF BIASED POLICE DEPARTMENTS I AM SORRY TO SAY…THIS IS JUST SCRATCHING A SURFACE THAT NEEDS TO BE SCRATCHED!